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Impulse Drive
''"Memo: To all Engineering personnel: Whomever keeps labeling the 'Impulse control' panel as 'Captain's Remote control' needs to cease and desist. Even I laughed the first time, but the joke has gotten quite stale. If it happens again, you will be guaranteed to see what poor impulse control can look like." '' ~Captain Margaret Brandl, Patrol Cruiser Kennedy ---- What it is The impulse drive, on the outside appears to be similar to a Chemical Thruster in function. However, whereas a Chemical thruster uses gas-expansion from ignition to propel a ship, the Impulse drive uses nuclear forces to create Electrothermal thrust with a great deal more of the released energy being converted to thrust, for less fuel and a more efficient system. Usually utilizing Fission, Fusion or AM Nullification as a fuel source, despite which of the three used, the process is similar. The reaction mass (Fuel) is transferred to a Reaction chamber, where it undergoes Nuclear Fusion or Fission within a compressive magnetic field. (In the case of Anti-matter Both fuels are stored separately and first sent into a pre-reaction injector, To then be put into the Reaction chamber.)Thus converting reaction mass into energized mass. The Energized mass is then accelerated from the Reaction chamber towards the Driver assembly by way of a compression impeller that keeps the Energized mass at a constant motion and further compresses the energy as it travels along increasing the stored potential energy. When the compressed energized mass reaches the driver assembly it is it's vectored and released into the expansion nozzle and allowed to expand again with all of the energetic forces propelled in one direction rather than all directions at once which provides thrust for the ship. Thermal converters are usually used along the drive to convert waste heat spilloff into electricity that can then be used to continually charge the coils or run other devices. In a lot of cases even when not providing thrust an impulse drive can serve as the secondary or even primary reactor and power source for a ship depending on how the Reactor core is set up. Fission is by far the least effective form of Impulse drive, as the nuclear force of atomic breakdown converts less mass to energy than Atomic Fusion. Anti-matter nullification systems provide nearly a full conversion of mass to energy by it's nature, and thus is the most efficient form of Impulse drive currently available. ---- Benefits and Drawbacks Impulse drives are by far some of the best for acceleration and thrust efficiency available. Combining the direct thrust effect of a chemical expulsion with an increased power regular gas expulsion can't obtain. Their power produced for mass of fuel against mass of ship is rather phenomenal (especially in the case of an Anti-matter usage). And the only limitations on their thrust capacity is the amount of fuel used against the durability of the housing. As stated before the fact that they can also be used as a ships reactor and power supply core is an additional benefit. For Cost saving measures only needing one source of energy instead of a separate reactor allows for the space that would be used for a separate reactor to be less mass or increased cargo. They are, however, a lot more massive than Ion drive units, though on par with Chemical drives. The reaction mass for the nuclear force needs to usually be specially stored and the entire assembly is by no means compact. The assembly requires a great deal of care in construction and maintenance, as essentially what it is doing is containing and controlling nuclear explosive forces to provide thrust, and damage to the containment or assembly can cause leaks or catastrophic failure a great deal more devastating than other types of breeches. As with most nuclear forces being used, insulation and shielding against radiation of dangerous types is required as without it the entire ship may become irradiated as the engines operate. Thermal leakage can also cause a problem where the heat isn't able to dissipate fast enough and may overwhelm the containment system. The Engines also register a great deal of heat when in use and show up fairly easily on even passive thermal scans when the engines are in use. Likewise the expelled energized reaction mass may dissipate such energy rapidly in stellar conditions, it also leaves behind a exhaust trail similar to how the Ion drive operates. And within an atmosphere even after being converted to thrust there may remain radioactive particles that can, over time, cause environmental damage. Also, some sectors have rules governing uncontained nuclear reactions within their space, which could make the act of engaging the drive a unlawful offense. usually intended to regulate the use of nuclear pellet guns, or warheads from being detonated in their system, the regulations may also apply to various types of impulse systems as well.